Growing pear has a long tradition in Tunisia, and numerous local cultivars possessing an excellent adaptability and resilience potential to climatic variation are present. This large adaptability is associated with an important genetic diversity, which is threatened to erosion. Appropriate measures have to be taken in order to properly evaluate and conserve this local material. Microsatellite markers were used to assess the level of genetic diversity among Tunisian pear germplasm, and compare it with some European varieties and wild pear species. 61 pear accessions representing eight groups (six groups from Tunisia, one from Northern Europe and another group composed of wild pear) have been genotyped using SSR markers derived from apple and pear. The pear accessions showed a significant polymorphism and 95 polymorphic alleles were found. The number of alleles per locus varied from 5 for CH04e03 locus to 14 for CH01d09 locus with an average of 9.4 alleles per locus. Moreover, the mean gene diversity (H_e) per locus ranged from 0.192 to 0.752. Genetic distance values and cluster analyses revealed high genetic similarities among the Tunisian groups. Factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) categorized the accessions into three independent groups where Tunisian local accessions agglomerated together distantly from European and wild pear accessions. Additionally, UPGMA dendrogram grouped accessions into two clusters, confirmed thereafter by the Bayesian model-based Structure analysis. The results showed 16 putative triploid accessions found in the local germplasm. This study provides valuable information to develop strategies of local pear conservation and use.

在突尼斯，种植梨具有悠久的传统，并且存在众多具有极好的适应性和适应气候变化潜力的当地品种。这种大的适应性与重要的遗传多样性有关，这种遗传多样性受到侵蚀的威胁。必须采取适当的措施以正确评估和保存这种当地材料。微卫星标记用于评估突尼斯梨种质之间的遗传多样性水平，并将其与一些欧洲品种和野生梨种进行比较。使用来自苹果和梨的SSR标记对代表八组（六种来自突尼斯，北欧，另一组由野生梨组成）的61种梨种进行了基因分型。梨种质表现出显着的多态性，发现了95个多态性等位基因。每个基因座的等位基因数量从CH04e03基因座的5个到CH01d09基因座的14个不等，平均每个基因座9.4个等位基因。而且，平均基因多样性（每个位点的H _e）在0.192至0.752之间。遗传距离值和聚类分析显示突尼斯各族群之间的遗传相似性很高。阶乘对应分析（FCA）将种质分为三个独立的组，突尼斯的本地种质与欧洲和野生梨种质聚集在一起很远。此外，UPGMA树状图将种质分为两个簇，随后通过基于贝叶斯模型的结构分析确认。结果显示，在本地种质中发现了16个假定的三倍体种质。这项研究提供了宝贵的信息，以发展当地梨的保存和使​​用策略。